Yep. I caught that. This is the blog topic for tomorrow. I went so far as to write an angry letter to Russ Burlingame. I didn't need to know that this cancellation was going to cost me Skeets, and I'm only angry because he told us. (Ignorance is bliss.)

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On the danger of once again being too harsh on Jurgens, 12 issues are enough to give Skeets an onscreen appearance. Even more so since he was actually featured in the story. He keeps pushing back the pay-off further and further and when eventually the times runs out the readers are the ones left in the dark, just like with the Black Beetle.

This is not to say that I am happy about what DC did here, but we have to accept that despite the hurdles created by DC, a lot of the problems were homemade in the title itself.

There's no danger here. It is obvious that Jurgens' stories are taking too long to complete. If there is any upside to this string of disappointments, maybe they will teach Jurgens to stop telling such slow stories.

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I fear that it is too late to teach that old dog new tricks (I think that's how the saying goes). I believe to remember you quoting an very old interview were Jurgens complained about new writers dragging out stories over too many issues. If he already understood that mistake then, yet keeps repeating it today I have little hope for change on his part. But I would be like to be wrong.

That old interview is the main reason I think Jurgens' change in storytelling style was editorially mandated. Hopefully, if DC is letting other writers int eh New 52 tell shorter stories, Jurgens can too.

(Ya'll don't say "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" in Germany? Do you have your own cliche with a similar meaning?)

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I have to admit I can't think of a similar German one. The only comment that comes to mind was something akin to "You just can't get the French to guard their flanks.", but I don't think these two are comparable, nor is it a common saying. Then again, most of our sayings are related to either beer or the colour blue.

You know Jurgen and his work much longer than I do, but to me his DCnU writing style does not really seem very different than it was before the relaunch in BG and TM.

It's not an especially new fault. Jurgens's pacing has been slow for the past few years. However, this wasn't so much a problem for him in the 80s and 90s on BGv1 and Superman.

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http://www.digitalspy.com/comics/news/a ... omics.html

I hope Booster is not counted as one of the characters that needs to "take a break". Although, keep in mind we were also told by Dan Didio when Booster "died" that they had to get rid of him because he was no longer relevant outside the 80s. Misdirection is a large part of his interviews, so take this with a grain of salt.

Metal Woman

I'm wondering if the cancellation of "successful" books and the story-line in the Annuals being published around the same time is connected with the BIG zero issue event this fall? Is DC going to do a reboot every year for the next 52 years until they've exhausted all of their alternate universes? just a thought

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A grain of salt? DiDio is a professional liar. I don't believe anything he says, and neither should anyone else.



I can understand that the company is concerned that their terrible decision to alienate existing fans hasn't resulted in a long-term sales gains for the rebooted titles. But let's not place the blame on the rebooted characters. It's not their fault they are full of angst and look stupid.

If we look at his statement at face value in that interview about characters needing to be rested, only two members of the JLI as of issue #1 were being used elsewhere: Batman and Guy Gardner. Clearly, DC doesn't want to rest Batman, as he's their best selling character and simply teasing his cameo appearance in a book boosts its sales. Green Lantern is DC's second best-selling brand, so it's not hurting to have one of the half-dozen familiar Lanterns in the book.

In the series' second story arc, the team has added (or according to solicitations plans to add) Batwing and Firehawk, both of whom are also already in other books. OMAC was added after his book was canceled. However, none of these three characters has any significant history or continuity to speak of. None of these characters had appeared in scarcely more than 3 issues before the JLI cancellation. Fire, Ice, Vixen, August General, Rocket Red? Godiva? Some of these characters haven't even had lines in the issues published so far. (Vixen fans, in particular, should be furious at how she's been under-utilized.) Hard to justify these characters "need rest" when they are barely used. If this cancellation was due to overuse of any of these characters, it must be happening on an alternate Earth.

DiDio's job is to make news and sell comics, not to tell us anything truthful or even useful. Taking salt while listening to DiDio is just going to raise our blood pressure. Best just to ignore the man entirely.

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